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We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

We've had only a few major redesigns since 1997; we think it's time for another. But we really do take to heart the comments you've made about the look and functionality of the beta site that houses Slashdot's future look. So let's all slow down. Right now, we're directing 25 percent of non-logged-in users to the beta; it's a significant number, but it's the best way for us to test drive this new design, to have you show us what pieces need to be fixed, and how. If you want to move back to Classic Slashdot, that path is available: from the Slashdot Beta page, you just need to select the "Slashdot Classic" link from the footer (or this link). We're committed to keep you informed of the plans as changes are implemented; we can't
promise that every user will like every change, but we don't want anything to come as a surprise. Most
importantly, we want you to know that Classic Slashdot isn't going away until we're confident that
the new site is ready. And — okay, we've got it — it's not ready. We have work to do on four big areas:
feature parity (especially for commenting); the overall UI, especially in terms of information density and
headline scanning; plain old bugs; and, lastly, the need for a better framework for communicating about
the How and the Why of this process. Some of you have suggested we're not listening; on the contrary,
some of us are 'listening' pretty much full-time. We're keeping you informed of this process, because
we're a community and we want to take everyone with us. But, yes, we're trying something new. Why?
We want to take our current content and all the stuff that matters to this community and deliver it on
a site that still speaks to the interests and habits of our current audience, but that is, at the same time,
more accessible and shareable by a wider audience. We want to give our current audience the space
where they are comfortable. And we want a platform where we can experiment with different views
of both comments and stories. It's not an either/or. It's going to be both. If we haven't communicated
that well enough, consider this post a first step to fixing that. And in the meantime, we're not sorry
to have received a flood of feedback, most of it specific, constructive and substantive. Please keep it coming. We will be adding more specific info here in the days to come.

I want the classic to be the _default_. A lot of the time I read from computers that are not my own and don't trust, so don't login. I don't want to search for a link hidden in the footer to make the site readable.

FUCK BETA! and FUCK TIMOTHY for not having any line breaks, guess the white space was all used up on the FUCK BETA site.

The new Slashdot Beta is so horrible its not just destroying Slashdot its destroying Beta.

Remember when a Beta was cool? When you got to try the invite only gmail beta? When you got to beta test the next game in your favorite franchise? All that beta cool, destroyed in one fell swoop.

I don't even want to teach my kids the alphabet now, just because it kinda has Beta in it. Hell, even Alpha is less cool now just because its fucking associated with Beta. Even Omega is a bit less glamorous.

Shit, I'm going to have to switch to some sort of Early Testing, Testing, Final Testing sort of nomenclature for software releases now. Beta is that bad that just releasing other software labeled as a Beta is going to make me cringe.

And Beta Carotene, well, right the fuck out of my diet, health consequences be damned.

I don't know about him but I'm trying to figure out whether I am shouting at the kids to get off my lawn or if it is a valid concern. So far, I appear to be a voice of reason. I'll let you know what the other voices in my head say.

but that is, at the same time, more accessible and shareable by a wider audience.

Precisely which audience is having problems reading slashdot, on precisely which platform?

Dice basically wants to use the/. brand to sell more ad space by increasing traffic to/. directly./. classic doesn't test well with the group they want to visit thus/. beta was chosen from several possible UI because the highest percentage of individuals from the target demographic rated it the best. What will most likely happen is/. will dwindle to a fraction of traffic it currently has and Dice will decide to re-brand the site SyDot and start running news stories about wrestling half the time and ghosts the other half.